Polar worker in hospital after Christmas fight

Two men, one with a suspected broken jaw, have been airlifted from the Antarctic's most remote research facility after an incident described as a "drunken Christmas punch-up".

The brawl happened at the US-operated Amundsen-Scott south pole station, located at the heart of the frozen continent. The station, where staff carry out a range of scientific investigations from astrophysics to seismology, is being rebuilt in a £76m project.

After reports of the fight reached staff at McMurdo station, headquarters of the US Antarctic programme which is located on Ross Island, a US Air Force Hercules was sent to pick up the two men.

They were flown back to McMurdo, but it was decided the man's injuries were too serious to be treated in Antarctica and he was flown to Christchurch, in New Zealand, accompanied by a nurse and a paramedic.

Many of the McMurdo staff had been expecting a day off for Christmas but support workers returned to work to deal with the rare emergency medical evacuation.

A spokeswoman at Christchurch hospital said a man was admitted on Christmas Day and discharged the following day.

The other man involved in the incident has flown back to the United States.